SOUTH BEND — Brandon Wimbush stepped up in the pocket and heaved a perfect 40-yard pass intended for No. 1 receiver Miles Boykin down the right sideline. Boykin beat cornerback Julian Love, but the ball bounced off his hands and landed on the turf.

Boykin rarely misses shots downfield and he was angry. These are the kinds of balls that he and Notre Dame’s wide receivers cannot drop when the season begins. As Wimbush continues to improve his accuracy and gains more confidence, his wideouts have to return the favor by catching contested balls, and they know it.

“I have to be as perfect as I can in everything I do,” Boykin said. “That way Brandon doesn’t have to be as perfect. We try to take as much pressure off the quarterback as possible.”

A goal for Wimbush this season is to be better than the 49.5 percent passer he was as a rookie. By all preseason accounts, he’s headed in that direction. Brian Kelly has been hyping him as having a “Larry Bird” effect on his teammates, while his teammates say they see obvious improvement from last fall to the spring to now. Through seven practices, he’s thrown some strong passes and some wobbly ones. He found tight end Alize Mack over Drue Tranquill in a goal line situation for a touchdown, but was also intercepted by Shaun Crawford a few drills earlier.

“Sometimes we’ll be in the film room and (wide receivers) coach Del (Alexander) will be talking to us about a coverage and he’ll say like, 'This is a tough coverage to read,' and Brandon is making decisions like that,” Boykin said. “It’s really night and day the stuff Brandon is working on. I can tell even since spring ball how different he was and he’s continuing with that.”

Alexander has a chart in their meeting room measuring contested catches in practice. The categories are: missed assignments, drops, loafs (insufficient effort during a play), explosive plays, and touchdowns. Wimbush is a skilled, dual-threat quarterback. He was Notre Dame’s second-leading rusher behind Josh Adams last season and scored 14 rushing touchdowns. He will still tuck and run this fall, but wants to be a more prolific passer. He may not get to the point where he’s completing 65-70% of his passes, but the receivers know they need to get up and fight in the passing game.

“It helps with his confidence,” said Chase Claypool, Notre Dame’s leading returning receiver. Claypool had 29 catches for 402 yards and two touchdowns last season. “The more we make plays for him, the more he’s going to be slinging them with confidence. It could be a perfect ball and we drop it and he’ll think it’s his fault when it’s really not his fault. So we have to make sure we come down with everything.”

Notre Dame has a lot of options at receiver. It seemed like this was going to be the case last year, too, but talent and depth didn't match expectations. Boykin and Claypool are both 6-4 and at least 227 pounds. Claypool used to back up Boykin, but was moved to the boundary position during the offseason. There’s a lot of movement with formations and involvement with the tight ends, but Kelly likes using his leading receivers’ size and athleticism to balance the field. Both are mismatches for cornerbacks, can block safeties, make plays on the perimeter, win one-on-one matchups, and play in space.

“I don’t think (opponents) realize how fast we can be,” Boykin said. “We consistently run past people, we’re physical, we can block, and we’re quick as well. When you put that together, that’s not something that you can prepare for day in and day out. And then you put (5-10, 180-pound Chris) Finke out there and he’s shifty, quick, and that’s tough to go up against.”

Other than the usual suspects, newer faces in the lineup will be junior Javon McKinley, who redshirted last season, wide receiver-turned-running back Jafar Armstrong in the slot, and Michael Young, who is battling a minor injury right now, but scored a touchdown in the third quarter of the Citrus Bowl.

Freshmen are also making early impressions on Kelly. Former cornerback Joe Wilkins “has been noticed.” He’s caught a lot of balls and played with the second team Thursday. He may benefit from the NCAA’s new redshirt rule that allows four games to be played without burning a redshirt. Lawrence Keys III could make an immediate impact in the slot. Kelly said football comes easily to him and he has high “functional intelligence.”

“We have to put an anvil in his back pocket because he’s a little light,” Kelly joked. “But I think he’s a guy as well that when he gets the ball in his hands, he finds a way to make something happen. So we’re not going to shy away from playing guys even if it’s a part-time position. We think he’s got a huge upside.”

Kevin Austin and Braden Lenzy are also getting attention and provide more options for Wimbush.